Children and the law

That the bodies and agencies that deal with child delinquency have no coordination among themselves only goes to show that the issue is not taken seriously. It seems that instead of taking a juvenile approach, the authorities while dealing with these children have been taking a juvenile delinquency approach. It is obvious that the treatment of juvenile offenders should be totally different from the adult ones; but in reality, what we have been witnessing over the years is quite distressing. Children less than ten years of age are being made prime accused in criminal cases, sometimes given life imprisonment terms or kept in jail with adult prisoners.

All these smack of insensitivity on the part of police force, lower judiciary, prosecutors and jail authorities. Though official figures show that more than 1500 children were freed from 51 jails around the country till August of the current year, the harsh truth is 1004 more children are still languishing in various forms of confinement. We are glad that at least the name of the correctional centre has been changed to a more acceptable name -- Kishore Unnayan Kendra, but we hope, not just the name, the activities at the centres should also undergo a complete transformation. Allegations of corruption and mismanagement at different levels, and most alarmingly, abuses committed against children have taken on an endemic character over the long haul. We also demand that the curriculum at these centres be mainstreamed into the general education system in order that they can compete with others after their release.

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